


Brotherhood

by Megpie71



Category: From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
Genre: Implications of violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-04-13
Updated: 2004-04-13
Packaged: 2017-11-01 02:22:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/350902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megpie71/pseuds/Megpie71
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seth was stuck keeping an eye on Richie.  Again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brotherhood

Mom had gone. So Seth was stuck keeping an eye on Richie. Again. 

Keeping an eye on Richie was always tricky. None of the other kids would stick around. If they were younger, they didn't like being around Richie because he didn't know when to stop with rough play. If they were older, around Seth's own age, they just thought Richie was weird, and teased him. Or at least, they used to. That had all stopped when Richie had gone berserk and broken Mike's arm. Now the other kids just left the pair of them alone.

Not that this made things any easier. Richie was just strange sometimes. Pretty normal most of the time, when things were going well, but when things were a bit odd at home, like when Mom went away, or when Dad came to visit, he just started doing strange stuff. Fires broke out. Knives went missing from the drawers. Mom dealt with it all by ignoring it. Dad hit them. 

"Richie, have you been to the bathroom?" 

He had to ask. When Mom was away, Richie forgot about going to the bathroom, or so he said. After too many times having to change Richie's sheets, or get Richie some clean pants, Seth had given up, and just started reminding Richie to go to the bathroom about four times a day. It seemed to work.

"Yeah. Seth, can I get a puppy?"

"No. Remember what happened last time?"

"But I'll take care of it. Honest."

"No, Richie."

Last time had worried even Seth. Richie had been really good in school, so good he got the job of looking after the class pet for the weekend. The pet had been a gerbil, or a ground squirrel, or something like that. Something rodenty, anyway. Seth hadn't really got a good look at the thing. Or at least, not while it had still been alive.

Richie said it had bitten him. All Seth knew was it had been in two pieces when he found Richie crying over it, and blood all over Richie's hands and mouth. Seth hadn't asked many questions (mainly because he didn't want the answers), just helped Richie pick up the pieces and bury the poor thing. Then he'd gone into class with Richie and explained the class pet had run away.

"Seth, I'm hungry. Can I have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?"

"Yeah. I'll make them, though. You put too much jelly on them."

"But I like them with lots of jelly."

"It goes down your shirt. I'll make them."

Richie pouted, but seemed to accept Seth's decision. Seth got up from in front of the TV, walked into the kitchen and made the sandwiches, then went to pour a glass of milk for Richie. The milk was off. Seth looked over his shoulder at where Richie was sitting in front of the TV. 

"Richie, come get your sandwich."

"Okay."

Really, when Richie was behaving like this, it was almost possible to forget the body in the next room. Mom wouldn't be coming back any more. She'd gone for good now, and Seth had the job of looking after Richie all the time. He just hoped he'd be able to do it right.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Guede Mazaka, who asked for an interaction between the two brothers. 
> 
> One thing which interested me about the film was Richard Gecko being described in terms which implied he was a sociopath, if not a psychopath, as well as the level of responsibility Seth seemed to feel for his brother's actions. I see there being about four or five years difference in age between the two of them, and Richie might be around seven or eight in this story.


End file.
